2012 Coolest / Soda Springs - Race Reports

Has cancer affected your life?

Cancer sucks. If you, a friend, or loved one has been impacted by cancer, you often wish there was "something more" you could do. Well, there is. August 11-12 is a great weekend to do something fun, rewarding and competitive to help fight this awful disease... and get a heck of a workout!

Since 2007, mountain bikers competing in the Coolest 8/24 have raised over $230K to fight cancer. It has become the largest endurance MTB fundraising event in the country. This race inspires and empowers all that come to ride. GBE's goal is to create a fundamental change in the expectations and experiences of those living with cancer; to help eliminate suffering due to cancer, and, ultimately, to survive cancer. The Coolest 24 is all about fun with family and friends - with the added motivation of helping others that are affected by this disease.

Coolest 24/8 Details:
o Starts at Noon on August 11th, ends at Noon on August 12th (8 hour race finishes at 8pm)
o 9 mile, fast course, with about 1,200' of climbing per lap. A mixture of singletrack, doubletrack and sierra dirt roads.
o A water truck will be used to make the course in less moon-dusty this year
o Free breakfast on Saturday!
o Free beer!
o Soda Springs (elevation 6,800) is a great place to escape the heat. Great views of the surrounding mountains. High country wildflowers. Many nearby lakes for a post-race dip!
o Further info is available here: Global Biorhythm Events

If you're a solo endurance racer, you know what these races are about.

If you can ride 9 to 27 miles, put together your team! Get your company to help pay your entry fee! Half the fun of these endurance events is hanging out with friends and fellow racers.

Whether you're a solo 24 hour racer, a solo 8 hour racer, or part of a team doing either version, you can't help but to feel inspired and humbled every time you pass "Memory Lane":
^Photo by Kirby Photography

Going to try and make it. Still nursing an injury from the TS100, but since I missed this last year, would like to check it out, especially with the new singletrack that Jim added in to this years course.

Bump!

I'll be there in some capacity. Royal Gorge is a fantastic venue for this kind of race. Certainley better than Cool. For those of you coming from Sacramento and to the south and west...it's only 25 more minutes of driving than going to Cool.

trails are in great shape

We went up to Royal Gorge this weekend and as always had great time. Ran into a few of the other Coolest 24 riders. Nice weather. There is a big grass hopper hatch going on. It was pretty cool as you ride into areas with the hoppers flying around you.
Ran in to Mr. Jimmy working on the trails. Looking forward to the race. Our team is raising money for a close friend that has been fighting cancer for the last two years. Keep up the fight Peter.

Carpool anyone??

Race Reports

It was a nice weekend of racing and fun . I'm not a huge fan of loopty-loop races, so I rode Tyrone Shoelace's coat tails in the 2 person 8 hour race. We came in 1st, and were pressed pretty good by a couple of strong guys from Nevada City. The course really grew on me. While you didn't have to hit the infamous "dust bowl", I kinda looked forward to it each of my 4 laps. It was a fun challenge, although I did wash out once

The scenery in every direction was outstanding.... Castle Peak, Serene Lakes, Tinkers Knob, Devils Peak, meadows, mules ear and aspen. The event was well run, very fun, and good to see so many familiar faces. Thank you GBE, Jim, the volunteers, Mike from Auburn Bike Works, and all those that donated to the fight against cancer. Well done!

After a solid night of sleep, I hung around the course and was in awe of the solo 24 hour racers still turning their pedals. I'm such a wuss! Some photos of the event:

Away we go!

Tyrone Shoelaces in his business suit:
(photo by Andy Olmstead)

Dust bowl carnage:
(photo by Andy Olmstead)

Memory Mile:
(photo by Andy Olmstead)

Tyrone on team lap #9... Devils Peak in the distance:

Zon repeating as 8 hour champ!
(photo by Andy Olmstead)

8 hour race close to wrapping up:

Chewbasquatch on the loose!
(photo by Andy Olmstead)

While some raced through the night, others watched the Perseid Meteor Shower:
(photos by Andy Olmstead)

Had an awesome time up there Sat/Sun! For my first 24 event I couldn't be happier with the race director and the racers. Super chill atmosphere and probably met a lot of MTBR's. Was doing well until my second battery burned out and i was too lazy to charge the first one while on my late night laps (dumba$$) so I went to sleep until daylight...Bad idea I learned because I lost all motivation to continue and only got one more lap in and drank beer the rest of the morning celebrating my 12 laps haha. Thumbs up for a great weekend!

Best time !!

That was so fun. GBE puts some much into there events.They do there events without any outside money from sponsors. They do all there own trail work and all there own timing, light charging, food, beer.
After talking with the gal from Auburn Bike Works she said this is the only 24 hour timing system and software like this in the country that can handle over 500 race categories.No dismount !!.
I was talking with Jim the owner of GBE and he said that they were shooting for another 24 hour race next year at Lake San Antonio? I think it's down south.
It sure was nice to be racing at 86 and not 107 and the dust was not that bad. Jim thinks they may have rasied another $24,000 for the fight against cancer. Dam good race as always. Had some much fun riding the dust bowl and the veiws up there are out of this world !! I think our team drank more beer than anyone out there. One of our riders, Chucky passed out from a little to much beer. Thank you everyone for a great time.

Thanks to everyone out there - the weather was great and as Jimmy said, "for the people wondering why we weren't at Cool..it's 105 degrees F there..." Yea!!!! People were great and the weather was awesome and the dust bowl...dang - nailed it the first time this and last year...after that it was pretty ugly With all the photographers out there I'm surprised nobody was "caught" in an endo...

AWESOME...only next time someone tell the RV people to run their generators during the day and not at 1am!!!